In a military career spanning 24 years, Roger Jones saw it all.

He was thrown into the thick of it as an 18-year-old rookie - taking on Cypriot terrorists in a bloody conflict that claimed the lives of 17 men from Leicestershire alone.

He spent six months living on his wits in the Borneo jungle where food rations had to be dropped by helicopter each day.

Peacekeeping missions and training campaigns took him to some of the far reaches of the globe, from Gibraltar to Hong Kong, Malta to Bahrain.

But it is the people he served alongside who stick in his mind the most. Some came home. Others were not so lucky.

Roger left the military in 1980. He adapted to Civvy Street better than some, opening a sports shop in Blaby then working as an engraver until he retired five years ago.

But the past has never really left him.

"Things I did, things I saw and the soldiers I served with, they will be on my mind when I go to sleep at night and when I wake up in the morning," said Roger.

"As soon as my brain kicks in, I think of military things."

Tomorrow, the 70-year-old retired Regimental Sergeant Major will be paying his respects at a small Remembrance ceremony at St Luke's Church in his home village of Newton Harcourt.

He won't be lining up for any parades this year, his mobility is now no match for that of the fresh-faced young 17-year-old who signed up for the Royal Leicestershire Regiment – known as the Tigers – back in 1956. At 11am he too will be silently thinking of the loss of those who paid the ultimate price to defend their country and the troops today risking life and limb in Afghanistan.

But it will be with the perspective of a man who has seen friends shot dead in front of his own eyes.

"Every time I hear another soldier is killed I know exactly what they are going through – I feel tremendous empathy with the lads in Afghanistan having to suffer their mates being killed," said Roger, a member of the Royal Tigers Association.

"I lost three of my soldiers in Northern Ireland.

"I will be reflecting on all the lads I've known who have died in service and I will be thinking of the new generation who have made the ultimate sacrifice and the loved ones they have left behind."

But in spite of the losses and the traumas, his soldier days are ones he looks back on with a positivity and a glowing sense of pride.

"The closeness and camaraderie of service life cannot be bettered anywhere," he said. "I have some very good friends as a civilian but you can never match the closeness of the friendships you form in the Army.

"I look back with pride now. It was a wonderful life."